It's Kind Of A Big Deal
by 000awesome000
Summary: -To most, it was just another wink, another smile, another hug. But with every wink, smile, and hug, they got closer to the prize. so really, it wasn't just a wink, a smile, or a hug; it was kind of a big deal.- in which Raini and Calum have a contest to see who can get Ross and Laura together first. Project Raura is on. Extremely long one-shot. Read and Review. Enjoy! :)


**It's Kind of a Big Deal**

* * *

_"I think that deserves 10 points, or _at least _5." _

_"Um, no way, that wasn't even that great."_

_"Oh, sweetheart, it's kind of a big deal."_

_"We'll then I should have gotten 10 points yesterday."_

_"Okay, how about this- I get 8 for the one today, and you get 6 for yesterday." _

_"Why do I get less points than you? It was basically the same thing."_

_"Because-" he held out the last syllable, drew in a breath, and continued. "-We didn't actually see it yesterday. We only heard it." _

_"But we both know that it had to have _totally_ happened."_

_"Exactly. Which is why you get some points for it. 6. Take it or leave it."_

_She sighed, picked up her purple permanent marker and placed 6 little tallys underneath the perfectly shaped letters "Raini" on the scoreboard._

_"Are you happy now?" She asked him._

_"Yes!" He shouted jumping up and down and up and down again. He took the purple marker from her and followed his friend's previous motions, adding 2 extra tally marks in triumph on the "Calum" side of the board._

_"You ready for your new challenge? Because trust me, boy, it's a killer."_

_"Bring it on, Raini. Calum's on a roll today!" And he clapped his hands together and beamed. She just laughed and pulled out a crisp little white envelope written on in that perfect purple sharpie reading: __**Project Raura**_

* * *

She couldn't put her finger on when _exactly _it started. She liked to believe last week, but she wasn't sure if that stuff even counted as "odd behavior" compared to what she was seeing now. She could vaguely make out some dark curly hair paired with some red hair hiding behind a fake bush in the studio lobby.

Here she was innocently sitting on a chair, playing Candy Crush on you-know-who's cell phone (because, remember she had only the coolest flip phone ever. As cool as a flip phone could get, anyway, and to her that was pretty high up on the cool scale, but it dropped to the opposite side of the scale in everyone's else's eyes, especially in the eyes of you-know-who, who happens to have the dreamiest eyes ever.) She's convincing herself that he will be proud of her when he walks through the door, for, you know, actually using a smart phone for once, and she's 99% sure that will be the case, and so would anyone else, whether you knew him personally or not. But there was still that one percent of her that seriously feared he'd kill her for keeping his phone all night and scrolling through every single app, text message, tweet, picture, and whatnot after he left it in her dressing room the previous day.

So yes, here she sat matching colored little candies to earn points on her best friend's phone while her other best friends were, for lack of a better word, _spying _on her.

She felt a sudden urge to grab a chunk of hair and chew on it, feeling her "Ally hormones" start to kick in, but she found her self just bouncing her right knee a lot more that the average person, shaking the entire bench.

The brilliantly gorgeous mess of blonde hair walked through the doors, (finally!), and much to Laura's liking was wearing, for lack if a better word again, a _hot _outfit. She subconsciously knew she was staring, but couldn't just look away that easily. She tried though, and when the realization that she finally succeeded hit, she found him standing right over her, her right knee still shaking furiously.

"You know, if you shake that leg any harder, we'll have Earthquake Laura hit." Ross smiled and sat down next to her on the little old bench, and he too was aware of the 2 spies in the buses, but played it off, thinking stuff like this was the usual around here.

"So thanks for taking care of my phone last night. I'm sure Eduardo loved your company." He joked.

"You named your phone?" She asked skeptical, with a little giggle at the end. "And you didn't even picks normal name, like Bob or even Ross Jr. That one I was expecting, thanks to your very large ego."

"I _do not_ have a very large ego, thank you very much." He defended. And she gave him a look as if to say 'your kidding, right?'.

"Besides-" he started, "he doesn't look like a Ross, he looks like an Eduardo."

Laura stayed quiet for a minute while she examined the phone- I mean, Eduardo-from every angle. She finally spoke up, saying, "He needs a mustache." She put it simply and Ross beamed.

"See! I knew it! I told my brothers that and they just thought I was insane. It's settled- you are coming to buy one with me today. Right after we film." He put his arm around her shoulder, and she leaned her head on him.

Faint squeals and clapping were heard coming from behind the bushes, and if you listened close enough, you could hear some bickering about "Who gets what number of points".

"So you're not mad at all?" Laura asked.

"Of course not." Ross smiled, "although maybe I should be, considering you probably looked at all my stuff and wasted all my lives on Candy Crush."

"I saw the My Little Pony stuff." And she held back a laugh.

"It was for my cousin!" He started.

"Sure it was." She got up from her _very comfortable _position that she was enjoying a lot, quite frankly, to look him in the eyes.

"I watch it too, Ross." And she burst into goggles when he beamed in triumph.

"So now we have to go get a mustache for Eduardo, and then watch My Little Pony." He said ad wrapped his arms around her in a sideways hug, resting his head atop hers. "This is why I love you."

And before she had time to even process anything, the squeals and shrieks from behind the bushes grew a little louder.

Ross stoop up, much to Laura's dismay, but took her hand and made her happy again.

"Let's go m'lady. I think we need to talk to someone about getting those plants watered."

"Indeed." And the two lovebirds (lovebirds according to Raini and Calum) retreated down the hallway, hands interlocked.

And once they were out of earshot, 2 figures emerged from behind the bushes squealing with delight.

Only to find out that they _weren't _out of earshot.

"Hey there, Ross"s and "Hiya, Laura"s and "Nice weather today"s and "Pumped for the taping?"s were quickly mumbled and passed along awkwardly as Raini and Calum tried to cover up for their sudden appearance.

Ross and Laura just laughed and waved as they continued down the hallway, swinging their still interlocked hands.

When they were really, truly and _finally, _out of earshot, the squealing resumed.

"This is going to be easier than I thought."

"So I'm taking that as a yes?"

"Yes. You're on, Calum."

"Okay, we can discuss details in my dressing room immediately after filming. Now go get yourself all Trish-ed up. I'll see you on the other side." Calum said as he walked away in a truly Calum fashion.

Raini sighed and said, "Ugh! They are sooo cute." And she made her way down the hallway as well.

* * *

"So the rules are simple- you get them to make a move on your day, and you get a point, or more depending on how big the move is. On your day you also get a challenge. If you get either Ross or Laura to complete this challenge, you get an added bonus to your prize at the end of the bet." Raini listened carefully and soaked in all the rules Calum was giving her for this _Project Raura_ game.

"And what kind of challenges are these?"

"Well, on my day, you pick the challenge, and on yours, I pick for you. But we have to be fair about this- if the challenge I give you is difficult then the bonus prize is a reasonable amount. See, I could make you stand behind Ross and chant 'Raura' until he starts to chant along too. If you can get him to do it, you get a bonus prize at the end of the competition. Considering that the challenge is pretty wacky, you get a wacky prize. Lets say… 5 free stuffed animals of your choice."

"Okay, but if I don't win the competition, do I still get my stuffed animals?"

"No."

"No? What do you mean? That's so not fair at all! We should both get the bonus prizes we earn, considering they are bonus prizes after all." Calum seemed to ponder carefully over Raini's strong argument for a while before looking her in the eye.

"Fine. All bonus prizes earned are yours, win or lose, BUT… the grand prize, that we bargain together is only given to the winner."  
"You've got yourself a deal. Now about the grand prize…"

"Person with the most points at the end of our 7 day challenge gets the prize. Any ideas?"

"Treat the winner to a shopping spree."

"No. Something more practical."

"A free hug?"

"No. More material value."

"Bragging rights?"

"Too cliché."

"A trip to the vacation destination of their choice?"

"Come back down to earth, Raini."

"Practical, valuable, not cliché, earthly… I've got it! Free lunch every day that we are on set for the whole second half of season 3 filming."

"Now were talking! Loser pays, winner eats- I like it!"

"Shake on it?" Raini asked, and smiled as she shook Calum's hand.

"We start tomorrow. Points are given out every two days, after each of us completes one day. You go first?"

"Sure. See you bright and early." And she picked up her purse and headed home, already strategizing and coming up with the most perfect challenge for her opponent.

Calum was doing the same.

* * *

**_Round One_**

"Here you go." Calum handed Raini a whit envelope with some purple writing.

"Purple?" she laughed, stifling a giggle as she looked at the frilly decorations that adorned the little envelope.

"It's the color of Raura. Get with it, girl. Go check tumblr." He said wth a flip of his hair.

She opened the envelope with caution and read:

_Welcome to Project Raura, Raini! Today is your first day, so your challenge is simple- get Ross and Laura to hug. Here's the catch, they must doing during the rehearsals, even though it's not in the script. Do whatever you've got to do to get it done, but know that the prize at stake is a manicure. You can even bring Laura if you want. Get to it- the lovers await you!_

"You ready?" He asked her, as she finished up her reading.

"Ready as I'll ever be." She sipped her cup of coffee, thinking to herself, _I'm going to be needing _a lot_ of caffeine today. _She took another sip, slipped the envelope in her pocket, and with script and coffee cup in hand, she headed to the Sonic Boom sound stage, Calum in tow, only to find their favorite pair sitting on the piano, singing together, wearing _matching outfits_.Raini smiled to herself before turning around.

"Are you sure you want me to go today? Because to me it looks like I've already got a solid amount of points from just these 2 minutes alone." She flipped through the pages of her script for effect before adding, "and by the looks of things, those points are going to keep on piling up." She grinned and placed her materials down on a nearby chair.

"It's not _that _big, it happens all the time-" Calum started, but raini put up a hand for him to stop.

"Um, no. It's kind of a big deal." And with a flip of her hair, just like Calum did not to long before, she went and sat down next to Laura on the piano while Ross wen to say good morning to Calum.

"Hi, Raini! How are you?" Laura beamed. She had so much energy for so early in the morning.

"Yeah, yeah. Listen. We need to talk."

"Talk? About what?"

"Hugging."

* * *

**_Round Two_**

****This may not come as a surprise to you, but Raini won her challenge last round. She flew right on through it, to be quite honest. It was actually really funny.

Austin (Ross) said that he liked Ally's (Laura's) shirt in the middle of the scene, when she wasn't even wearing a shirt, because they were on the beach, wearing bathing suits. They were singing and he just stops mid-chorus and says, "Hey, Ally (Laura), I really like your taste in shirts." Ally (Laura), being the person she is (and thanks to Raini's strong words), was touched by the compliment, and hugged him. Austin (Ross) (who was also strongly influenced by Raini) played along and hugged right back. Trish (Raini) clapped in triumph at her job of the week, selling surfboards, and Dez (Calum) crushed the ice cream cone in his hand between his fingers. The directors seemed stunned and rather confused, but shook it off and restarted the scene.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't that funny. I guess you had to be there.

Anyway, that day Raini got 2 winks for 4 points, a reference to an inside joke for 1, sitting next to each other at lunch for 3 points, hanging out alone-together (you know what I mean) at break time for 4 points, sharing a milkshake for 5 and a goodbye hug that lasted a few seconds more than normal for another 5 points, bringing her to a grand total of 22 points and a manicure in just one day. Calum came the next day, and sadly, lost his challenge, but came up with a whopping 25 points, who knows how he did it.

So when Raini's day two challenge came, she claimed that it was totally unfair, saying Calum was just mad at her for making him lose the previous day. Raini bumped up her score to 30, and did not win her challenge. Boo hoo.

Her challenge for Calum though, was going to be something, that's for sure.

He fixed his suspenders, admired his checkerboard skinny jeans, then walked out of his dressing room and right into Laura.

"Oh my gosh! Calum, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there."

"Honestly, I don't know how you missed me in my bright apparel." He laughed, and she laughed right on back.

"Honestly, I don't know either."

"But really, I'm sorry. It was my fault. My mind was just on other things, I guess."

"Oh really? Wanna talk about it?" She inquired as they started walking down the hallway. Oh! _Lightbulb, Calum!_

"It's just… I don't know, its silly. Nevermind." He sighed. She put her hands on his shoulders and faced him.

"Nothing can be sillier than those pants."

"You're right. So, um. I was supposed to meet someone for dinner today to talk about starring in a movie."

"Calum, that's huge! I'm so happy for you!"

"Yeah, there's just one problem." She looked at him to go on. "I don't do dinners. You know me, I'll just blab something stupid and lose the spot."

"Oh, im sure you're just getting worked up over nothing. You'll be fine."

"Actually, I don't think I'm exaggerating. I was supposed to be in one of his movies a while back, and I totally made a mess at that meeting." He elaborated a bit and she seemed to understand his dilemma.

"I wish there was some way I could help."

"Thanks, Laur, but- wait! There is a way, if you're up for it…"

So, somehow, Laura found herself sitting in an exclusive, very fancy steakhouse feeling slightly underdressed. Not that she should've been, though. In her little black dress that accentuated her body quite perfectly, and her red pumps and ever so ombre curls were nothing shy of proper attire for the evening. She twirled her curls, and smoothed out her dress and checked her phone to see the time before the red head slid into the booth.

"Sorry for the wait, Laur. And thanks so much, again, for coming to help me with this meeting thing."

"It's my pleasure, Calum, really. Are you sure he said you could bring a friend?"

"I'm sure. He's definitely a people person."

"Okay. I'm just surprised you brought me instead of Ross." She twirled her curls again and opened the menu.

"Well, I have a feeling he'll be here. In spirit, that is." He too, opened up his menu and started to read, although he was pretty sure he wouldn't be ordering anything. "You know, it is so strange. I think I might be going insane, but I can really feel his presence here. Like, I can hear him talking…" _And cue that light bulb moment._

"That's because he is talking." Laura said in disbelief, and sure enough, when they both turned around, there he was, in all his heart-throb glory, standing on a stage with nothing but a guitar and his heart-melting smile.

"Uh, hi guys. I'm Ross Lynch. I was, uh, wondering if I could sing a song for you guys. How does that sound?" He said into the microphone, and the restaurant erupted into cheers.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." He laughed, and strummed his guitar. "So, I was talking to the owner of this very fine restaurant, not even 2 minutes ago, and he said he's always loved this one song. It may be a little old, but come on, who doesn't have a little love for Bruno Mars in their heart?" and he started to play the distinct tune of "Just The Way You Are". He sang it impeccably, might I add, and had every teenage girl in there falling head over heels, and one girl in particular, one who kept on twirling her curls and smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress, couldn't help but think the song was for her. Sure enough it was, thanks to Calum.

When the song finished, the audience gave him a well deserved applause, and when it died down, he thanked the crowd and headed for Laura and Calum.

"So, what'd you guys think?" he said as they both stood up to greet him. Laura gave him a hug before saying, "_I_ think that Calum set us up." She eyed her co-star who gave a defensive look, before mumbling a quick, "Okay, maybe, I did."

"Anyways…" she continued, "You were amazing, as always."

"Thanks." The blonde said with that heart0melting smile of his plastered across his face.

"So, I've gotta run. Turns out the meeting was at a different place. In and our from now." Calum said standing up.

"Oh really? I would've never guessed." Laura said, her voice dripping with sarcasim.

"Really! Calum said, "But I would hate to see such a tremendous meal go to waste. Why don't the two of you stay?"

"Yeah, he definitely knew." Laura mumbled.

"I have no objections. What do you say, Laur?"

"Why not? I could go for a steak actually. Thanks Calum." She said, both of them waving as he walked out.

"No- Thank _you!"_ And as he walked out he pulled a white envelope from his pocket and read it over again.

_Get Ross to sing a love song to Laura in a fancy restaurant where they go on a date. _He thought, and just that he did. He pulled out his cell phone and called Raini.

"I believe you owe me an iTunes gift card now."

* * *

**_The Finale_**

Okay, so I decided to skip Round 3, for time's sake. I mean, it was fairly simple, here let me recap:

Calum won his round 2 challenge, as you know, and that day he also increased his points by 12, the score standing 37 for Calum and 33 for Raini.

Round 3, they both won their challenges, too odd to possibly explain into words. Let's just say they involved a puppy, 2 snuggies, a watermelon, a trip to a waterpark, and a surfboard.

The score, as we speak, is 50- Calum and 50- Raini. They tied it up, somehow, so it all came down to today.

Today is day 7, the last day of the game, with the ultimate challenge: try to get Ross and Laura actually together. Whoever could do it, ultimately wins the whole thing.

Today was a Saturday, it was live taping day, so if they could get them to confess their love in front of in audience, that's a win in itself. I guess, you could say, it would be kind of a big deal.

"Okay, so which do you think I should wear?" Laura held up 2 dresses as she looked into the mirror.

"Don't we all have costume designers for a reason? So we don't have to make these decisions." Raini answered, sitting on the comfy beanbag chair in Laura's dressing room.

"Yeah, but she said I could pick today. So which one?"

"Well, what would Ally wear?"

"That doesn't help. Both of these are perfect for Ally. It's about what_ Laura_ wants to wear."

"I'm not very good at these decisions!" Raini sighed, but then suddenly, had an idea. "Wait! I know why thus matters so much to you… you are trying to impress a certain someone."

"No, no. Why would I try to impress him?" Laura defended.

"HA! I knew it!"

"Knew what?"

"I didn't even say _who _you were trying to impress, but that certain blonde popped into your head, didn't he?"

"Okay, you caught me. I just don't know what to do about it."

"The dress or the boy?"

"Both."

"Well, Mama Raini can definitely help you with that.

* * *

They had finished the filming, and were ready to start the fan meet and greet. The 4 cast members decided to do it on the Sonic Boom set, just to change things up for they day. Actually, it was Ross' idea, which was a little random, but since the other 3 of them saw no problem with it, they talked to the crew and that's where it was set up.

So here they stood, 4 stars and rows of fans.

While Calum was telling jokes to the audience and Laura laughed her little head off and rini rolled her eyes, Ross snuck away up the stairs into the practice room. He sighed loudly as he picked up Austin's guitar.

"You can do this," he thought out loud, "Just think about what Calum told you earlier…"

_"I just don't see why you are so scared!"_

_"I just don't want to-"_

_"You don't want to ruin your friendship. How many times are we going to hear that excuse?"_

_"But it's true! If things get weird and awkward, I mean look at it like this- what happened to Austin and Ally!"_

_"You're not Austin and ally, well technically you are, but you get the point!"_

_"I don't know, Calum."_

_"Well, I know. I know that you are falling for her, Ross. And you shouldn't be ashamed of it. You two are meant to be together, trust me. And some fear about what's to come shouldn't stop you two from being together."_

_"I guess you're right."_

_"And think of it like this- you guys already always go places together. This is just giving yourself a title, and a reason to kiss her whenever you want. Don't tell me you haven't wanted to."_

_"You know, if you weren't so great in helping me with this, I'd slap you senseless for that last comment."_

So while Ross was giving himself a pep talk, Laura was downstairs trying to work up the courage to blurt out the one thing she'd been dying to say for a really long time now.

"I LIKE YOU ROSS!" and just like that, what she had meant to say in her head was blurted out of her mouth, and the whole room of people silenced and stared at her.

She started to panic. How was she supposed to cover for that?

"Umm… uhh…" she struggled to find the words as her face flushed bright red. _Might as well own up to it know. What have I got to lose? Only all of my self pride, that's good, _she thought.

"Sorry, for my outburst guys, I didn't mean it, but now that it's out there, I might as well put the rumors to end. I know that this is not the way people usually do things, but. I'm going to do it anyway. I have a question to ask-" She started, with her new burst of courage, but Calum, oblivious to the whole scene as he most always is, he motioned for Ross to come down.

And come down he did, guitar and all, singing _I Think About You_ identical to the way Austin did it on the show.

To say Laura was shocked would be an understatement. She should've seen it coming, but she didn't, so she watched him sing in awe, cling to every word of the song that she already knew by heart. When the song was finished, you could tell it was taking all the strength that those fangirls had not to burst out in screams at how adorable the situation was.

Raura shipper or not, just face it, this was pretty darn cute.

"Ross, I-"

"Laura, will you be the Ally to my Austin?"

And that, my friends, was the breaking point.

The room started chanting "Say YES!" and Raini and Calum were more than thrilled.

"So, will you be my girlfriend?" Ross asked, praying that she would put him out of hus misery and just answer already.

"I was actually just about to ask you the same thing." Laura confessed, and when she realized what she said, added, "I mean, I was going to ask you to be my boyfriend. Yeah, boyfriend. Because you are definitely not a girl." She blushed an even brighter red, and Ross laughed, because this was just Laura, and that's why he loved her.

"So I'll take that as a yes?" he asked, and before she even had time to answer, Calum and Raini were shouting, "JUST KISS HER ALREADY!".

So he did.

Raini and Calum never came to the conclusion on who won that day. They called it a tie, because, really, they got both of them to make the move. They got their bonus prizes and ate some pretty good lunches for the rest of filming season 3.

But in the end, they knew it was Ross and Laura who really won, because thanks to their best friends' scheming and plotting, they finally confessed what the whole world already knew.

It was just another relationship to most people. It was just another ship that had set sail (finally!). A boy and a girl, who go on some dates, share smiles, and hold hands, and go on long walks where they talk about everything and nothing at the same time.

To most those winks and smiles and talks and gifts were just another cliché.

But to Raini and Calum…

Let's just say, it's kind of a big deal.

* * *

**_A/N: Wow. So that was longer than I expected. If you're reading this, you made it through the whole thing, and I just want to thank you for that._**

**_I've been kind of busy for the past few weeks. I've put off 2 of my other stories a while to write this one, so actually, it would mean a lot if you could review and tell me if it was worth it. If you read my other stories, just know that I'll be updating as soon as I possibly can. If you don't, would you mid checking them out? They are called "Fancy Meeting You Here" and "I'm Secretly Glad I Hate You". I've also got 2 other one shots that I would love for you to maybe read too, but if you don't it's not a problem._**

**_Thanks again for reading. xoxo_**


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